Beloved actress Betty White, passed away on New Year’s Eve, just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. Rumors surrounding her cause of death were making the rounds, but on Monday White’s agent revealed the true cause of her death.
Following Betty White’s death, rumors circulated that the actress had recently received a COVID booster shot and that she had died due to complications from the shot. But, White’s agent and close friend Jeff Witjas denied the rumors.
“Betty died peacefully in her sleep at her home. People are saying her death was related to getting a booster shot three days earlier but that is not true. She died of natural causes. Her death should not be politicized — that is not the life she lived,” Witjas said in a statement.
Witjas had previously stated that Betty White died peacefully in her sleep at home the morning of December 31. “Even though Betty was about to be 100, I thought she would live forever,” Witjas said of his friend and client. “I don’t think Betty ever feared passing because she always wanted to be with her most beloved husband Allen Ludden. She believed she would be with him again.”
In a new interview with Page Six, White’s “Mama’s Family” co-worker Vicki Lawrence shared that Betty White’s final words were a whisper to her late husband, Allen Ludden.
Lawrence told the media outlet that as soon as she heard about White’s passing she contacted her longtime friend and fellow actress Carol Burnett.
“I texted Carol and said, ‘This just sucks. I hate this. It’s just horrible to see the people you love so much go away,’” Lawrence recalled.
“Carol wrote back and said, ‘I know, I know. I spoke to Betty’s assistant, who was with her when she passed, and she said the very last word out of her mouth was ‘Allen.’”
She was married to Allen Ludden from 1963 until he died in 1981 at the age of 63 from stomach cancer.